How would you feel if your husband or wife were cheating on you? Or, what if he or she were just neglecting you, choosing to spend time at work or with his or her hobbies instead? Would you be heartbroken? Would you be angry?

Hosea knew all about it. In fact, he went into his marriage knowing that his wife was going to be unfaithful to him. But in the anger and sadness he had to have felt, Hosea gained a window into the very heart of God.

For God told Hosea that His people were acting just like Hosea’s wife. Instead of paying attention to the God Who loved them and had saved them from slavery in Egypt and had delivered them from so many other enemies, they were turning to all kinds of false gods, giving them the credit for all the material blessings they received. They not only turned away from the Lord – they forgot Him (2:13).

But that wasn’t just a problem for God’s Old Testament people, who bowed down before golden statues. We do the same thing whenever we look to our careers or pensions for our prosperity, whenever we trust in our doctors or our fitness regimens for our health, whenever we focus our lives on gaining happiness and fulfillment for ourselves instead of bringing glory to God. Whenever we turn away from God in any way and for any reason, we are unfaithful to Him. We are forsaking Him.

But the good news is that God didn’t forsake His Old Testament people. In spite of their infidelity, He did indeed send them the Leader He had promised them – Jesus (1:11). And great multitudes of people throughout history, all who follow that Leader by faith, have become part of God’s people, receiving the covenant promises God made to Israel (1:10; see Romans 11:13-27). Yes, Jesus saves us from our false idols, not with military force (1:7), but by shedding His own blood. And He calls all who trust in Him, “Ammi,” which means “My people” (2:1).

But make no mistake: just as Hosea knew the kind of woman he was marrying, God knew how unfaithful His people would be. Remember: none of Jesus’ disciples died with Him on Good Friday. No, they all abandoned Him, and Peter went so far as to deny Him three times.

But just as Hosea married a woman he knew would be unfaithful, Jesus died for those who He knew would forsake Him. And He continues to call people like them, and people like Hosea’s wife to Himself: unworthy, unfaithful sinners like us. That’s how great, how unconditional, how self-sacrificial, how faithful His love is. So, isn’t He worthy of our love in return?

Hosea 1:1-2:1 (NASB)

The word of the LORD which came to Hosea the son of Beeri, during the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.
2 When the LORD first spoke through Hosea, the LORD said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of harlotry, and have children of harlotry; for the land commits flagrant harlotry, forsaking the LORD.”
3 So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
4 And the LORD said to him, “Name him Jezreel; for yet a little while, and I will punish the house of Jehu for the bloodshed of Jezreel, and I will put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
5 “And it will come about on that day, that I will break the bow of Israel in the valley of Jezreel.”
6 Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And the LORD said to him, “Name her Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer have compassion on the house of Israel, that I should ever forgive them.
7 “But I will have compassion on the house of Judah and deliver them by the LORD their God, and will not deliver them by bow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen.”
8 When she had weaned Lo-ruhamah, she conceived and gave birth to a son.
9 And the LORD said, “Name him Lo-ammi, for you are not My people and I am not your God.”
10 Yet the number of the sons of Israel Will be like the sand of the sea, Which cannot be measured or numbered; And it will come about that, in the place Where it is said to them, “You are not My people,” It will be said to them, “You are the sons of the living God.”
11 And the sons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be gathered together, And they will appoint for themselves one leader, And they will go up from the land, For great will be the day of Jezreel.
Say to your brothers, “Ammi,” and to your sisters, “Ruhamah.”